The Third Slayer
by Jake
Summary: A new Slayer, Cleveland and battery acid. This is the third story in the Official Sponsor series, but it can be read independently of the first two stories.


Title:The Third Slayer  
  
Author:Jake  
  
Summary:A new Slayer, Cleveland, and battery acid.  
  
Rating:PG-13  
  
Spoilers:Everything in BtVS up through "Afterlife" (6.03)  
  
Archiving:Please ask first. I just want to know where it is.  
  
Disclaimer:All characters and places from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER and ANGEL are the properties of Joss Whedon and his Wacky Pals (tm). The characters you've never heard of before are mine.  
  
Note 1:Many thanks to HAKIRBY for beta-reading.  
  
Note 2:This is the third story in the "Official Sponsor" series.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
Mid October 2001  
  
"Resurrected?! Mi Profesor, how is that even possible?"  
  
"Well, Celi, we are talking about the Sunnydale Anomaly, after all", her Watcher said with a slight grimace. He had just hung up the phone after the call from the Council of Watchers and he didn't hesitate to inform her of the news. "The Council isn't totally sure yet how it was done, but you may be assured the redheaded witch was involved."  
  
He snorted. The big surprise to Gabriel Velasco was that the witch hadn't done it much sooner.  
  
"Anomaly" was the less-than-admiring nickname Señor Velasco had for Buffy Anne Summers. Years ago Araceli once secretly overheard him in a whispered telephone conversation with another Watcher refer to Buffy as a 'hellion' but he would never say that knowingly in her presence. He maintained at least a minimum level of decorum at all times with his then-Potential-now-Slayer. And although his disdain of the rebellious Miss Summers was barely hidden, he certainly didn't want to encourage such a feeling in his own charge towards Buffy.  
  
Fat chance. To an awestruck Araceli, Buffy was the Sunnydale Legend. Yes, she was an anomaly but this was no disadvantage here; Buffy had accomplished things no previous Slayer had.  
  
Anomaly A: Buffy's training hadn't begun until after she was activated. Anomaly B: her secret identity had been partially outted almost as soon as she gained her second Watcher (anomaly C), but that outting had allowed her to collect a cadre of irregulars that benefited her immensely. Who needed years of hard training as a Potential (Araceli remembered hers with a groan) when you can depend on a witch or two, an ensouled vampire, a go-to guy and even an occasional werewolf as well as your own Watcher?  
  
And, lets face it, when you Slay on a hellmouth, you *really* do need all the help you can get.  
  
Anomaly D: Buffy had died not once, but twice . . . and now she had come back to the living yet again.  
  
Buffy was Araceli's number-one role model, Sr. Velasco's feelings not withstanding. It had been Buffy's second death that activated her. Her Watcher had told her everything he learned from the CoW about Buffy and Sunnydale as part of her Slayer training. What he had often intended to be cautionary tales became tales of inspiration for her, and she was determined to carry on the high standards Buffy had set for the new generation of Slayers. "She Saved the World A Lot" was Araceli's primary motivational quote.  
  
In her mind, the only Slayer worthy of disdain was the Rogue -- Faith, who ironically broke faith to her Calling. Faith the Betrayer.  
  
Faith . . . once again the Second Slayer.  
  
Of course Faith wasn't the Second Slayer literally anymore than Buffy was the First Slayer literally. But Buffy's first death and revival had created the final anomaly of *simultaneous* Slayers. She was clearly the very First in that sense.  
  
Which made poor Kendra and the Rogue "Second Slayers".  
  
And now Araceli had gone from being the unremarkable third Second Slayer to being the Third Slayer! She felt special again, as special as she felt when she was Called. She smiled at Buffy's resurrection and at the new closeness she felt to her other role model, Kendra.  
  
In the brave, new world of Simultaneous Slayers, Buffy was the first First, Kendra was the first Second and Araceli was the first Third. The Rogue had no place in that grouping and Araceli couldn't be happier at the thought.  
  
"Mi Vigilante, may I go see her?"  
  
Velasco put it as gently as he could, knowing how Araceli felt about Buffy. "No, her irregulars have done a fair job handling the demons in Sunnydale before now, and now that she's back, they really don't need any more help." He saw his charge's disappointment and he quickly added "Celi, the work we do here is very important. If you left, this place would grow worse in short order."  
  
"Yes, sir." She sighed and returned to her homework. Velasco sighed himself and wished he could do more for his Slayer, not for the first time. But what he had done for her thus far was no small thing. He finished preparing their evening meal. She still had a patrol to do tonight. Their routine was pretty rigid and he wasn't going to let any new nonsense in Sunnydale throw them off-track.  
  
They had been in Cleveland for four months now. Sr. Velasco's work visa and behind-the-scenes CoW manoeuvring had gained him a low-profile clerking job. Last month, the 15-year-old Vampire Slayer from Peru was enrolled as a sophomore in high school. Araceli could easily have enrolled as a high school senior, having been homeschooled by a well-educated Watcher since she was seven. But the relative ease of the 10th-grade workload allowed her the luxury of concentrating on her Slaying, without drawing unwelcome attention as some kind of academic wunderkind.  
  
Her English grammar was excellent but her accent was very prominent. Unfortunately that just added to her "exotic" allure to the male students. She was being hit on daily by classmates and upperclassmen. Araceli hadn't expected this aspect of her social immersion in the American experience, and she wrapped her "bookworm" disguise around herself like a protective cloak.  
  
Not that she wasn't interested in guys. But that wasn't why she was in Cleveland. Slaying was still new enough to be her favorite after-school activity. It was not merely her duty, it was her joy and she wanted to hold onto that feeling as long as possible. Boys would still be there when she grew jaded from staking and hacking.  
  
And she knew that jaded feeling was coming eventually because she had been warned by the best Watcher in the world. He told her everything, even things he was forbidden to tell her by CoW rules. He made sure she understood what she was expected to know and what she had to keep hidden from the CoW. Gabriel Velasco believed strongly that knowledge was power, and no Slayer of his was going into battle handicapped with ignorance.  
  
Not if he could help it.  
  
Araceli couldn't love him more if he was her real father instead of her devoted guardian and teacher. And on top of both his sanctioned and secret teachings, there was the other thing. If the CoW ever got any hint of what Velasco had done, he would be out of the Watchers faster than he could say "Gwendolyn Post".  
  
As far as hellmouths go, the one in Cleveland was so far fairly "low-rent", an American slang term she had just picked up that day. It was less active than the entrance that had developed in Sunnydale. But as a hellmouth, it was still a magnet for demons from hundreds of square miles around. Many a demon made a point of stopping by Cleveland on their way to Sunnydale from wherever the hell they came from -- no pun intended. And many of those demons found out the hard way just how unwise that stopover was, because Araceli the Vampire Slayer didn't play that game.  
  
"Celi, how much water have you had today?" her Watcher asked without looking up from his plate.  
  
[Darn!] "Six glasses, jefe", she answered sheepishly.  
  
He said gently, "Eight glasses at regular intervals, moza. It's not something you want to be lax about."  
  
"No, sir, I don't."  
  
He had just started doing the dishes when she left for her patrol.  
  
She saw the trio of vamps chase the panicked teens into a dead-end alley. Araceli's long hair was already pulled back into a bun and covered with a scarf. She quickly pulled a second scarf from her jacket to hide the lower half of her face as if she was a bandido. She drew weapons, yelled and sprinted into the alley.  
  
Her water pistol shot caught the nearest vamp full in the face and he screamed when the holy water dissolved undead flesh. She staked him as she ran past but her second shot just missed another one. However he was off balance from ducking and she body slammed him to the ground. The third one growled and kicked the water pistol out of her grip. She dodged a second kick and pulled her other stake just as the second vamp picked himself up. The battle was on.  
  
The terrified teens stared in amazement as the lithe female fought the two demons in lethal combat. The clumsier one was staked before long, but the last one had some real agility and he was big. She wasn't going to win easily going toe-to-toe with him, and her water pistol was history. The big vamp had stomped it to pieces when she was dispatching his companion.  
  
[Enough of this nonsense.] Making sure she was between the teens and the demon, she lifted her bandana quickly and spit right into his face. He grunted twice in surprise, first from the burning saliva and then from the stake in his heart. Araceli lowered her bandana and stopped herself from chiding the foolish teens for walking around desolate parts of Cleveland at night. She recognized one of them as a schoolmate and her accent would be a dead giveaway.  
  
She wordlessly ran out of the alleyway, hoping the teens had enough sense to go straight home. The rest of her patrol was uneventful. [I've worked up a good thirst; two full glasses tonight before bed], she thought with satisfaction.  
  
Sr. Velasco had replaced all of her drinking water with bottled holy water from the day she had been Called. It was the biggest secret between the two of them. In her five months as a Slayer, bottled holy water had comprised her main beverage, the water for Sr. Velasco's cooking, the water for their lemonade, her herbal teas and his coffee and even occasionally the final rinse water after her shower. Her spit and sweat were already fairly toxic for vampires and a few other demons she'd encountered in Cleveland.  
  
By the end of the year she'd be the deadliest Demon Slayer ever. A vampire wouldn't be able to get near her without breaking out in a rash. If nothing else, she didn't have to worry about the abomination of being vamped. Vampires would be better off drinking battery acid than her blood.  
  
"God bless Gabriel Velasco!" she said to herself, not for the first time. She couldn't believe the CoW had not only never thought of this themselves but would very likely punish her Watcher for taking this radical action. But the Council of Watchers, although primarily composed of Anglicans, was officially secular, and holy water for them was simply a tool. For the Catholic Watcher, it was much more and the new usage came to him naturally. He was always on best terms with the local priests and he used his considerable power of persuasion to get many gallons of bottled water blessed since his Potential became the newest Slayer.  
  
She came home from school one day in early November to see him grimly packing a suitcase.  
  
"Whassup, jefe?"  
  
He grimaced. That's one thing he wasn't going to miss about Cleveland; the local youth were already corrupting his Slayer's speech. "Araceli, we got a call from the Council. We're moving to San Francisco."  
  
"WHAT?! But why?" The boring classes aside, she had begun to make friends in school and was beginning to enjoy herself there. She even thought about joining a lunch-time club. And of course her Slayage rocked! Slaying in Cleveland was practically a party every night for her.  
  
Still . . . San Francisco was intriguing. More cosmopolitan, a little warmer. [But not right NOW, dammit!]  
  
"There's something in San Francisco; some new hellspawn that needs our attention."  
  
She sighed. This wasn't her Watcher's doing, it was the CoW. Her complaining about it would only make both of them feel worse and not delay the move by a single hour. She settled down and waited patiently for him to explain.  
  
"Celi, San Francisco hasn't seen any significant demon activity in years. It's close enough to Southern California to be within the clean zone." The two huge demon magnets, the Hellmouth in Sunnydale and the Wolfram & Hart tower in Los Angeles, had strongly attracted all the demons for thousands of square miles around. San Francisco should have been 'clean'. "However the CoW recently got reports of savage serial killings. Emphatically nonhuman. They sent an investigation team.  
  
"There's a vampire in San Francisco . . . that may be unkillable." Araceli's eyes went wide. "He's been seen walking around in direct sunlight, posing as human. And two nights ago he spotted one of the team members spying on him. Our man used his holy water, to no avail. His crucifix was worthless as well. The monster killed him and left before the other team members arrived. Last night his minions killed another investigator. The team has withdrawn, but they have collected much crucial information for us."  
  
"Mi Vigilante, that sounds like the Gem of Amara. Can there be another one?"  
  
"Maybe. Or a very good substitute. We have to go there and destroy the monster and his source of apparent invincibility. Not necessarily in that order." He forced a smile.  
  
Araceli looked at the bottled holy water ready to be placed in the shipping boxes. For the first time in her short career, the Third Slayer felt real terror. She now had more in common with Buffy Summers than she ever dreamed.  
  
The End 


End file.
